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Lesson 1.0:  Basic Principles of the Piano / Locating the White Keys

One of the most important things about playing the piano is understanding where the notes belong on the keys.   Although there are 88 keys on the piano, there are only 12 unique notes before they begin to repeat again. 

The interactive piano below will show you that C always comes before 2 black keys and F always comes before 3 black keys.  C and F are highlighted in light green.  See if you can find C and F on your piano.  Click C and F below and see how it matches the pitch of the C and F on your piano.  Memorize where these are and then move on to the next section.

Now - the musical alphabet works much like the normal alphabet except that the musical alphabet only goes up to G.    That's right, when it gets to G, it begins to start all over again.  A, B, C, D, E, F, G, A B C D E F G A B C ...etc - you get the point.  Use this concept to fill in the rest of the white keys in your head.  We'll tackle the black keys in a later lesson.  So, between C and F you have D and E and following F you have G, A, B, and then you guessed it you are back to C.  Click the interactive piano below to quiz yourself on each of the white keys and then see if you can do it on your real piano or keyboard. 

Once you have done all this - go onto the next lesson!